Computer simulation of molecular diffusion in amorphous polymers

Diffusion of small molecules in amorphous polymers has been examined by computer simulation. Diffusion coefficients of small molecules with molecular weights ranging from 16.04 (methane) to 452.50 (fluocinolone acetonide) Da in four amorphous polymers were calculated using the QUANTA, CHARMM and Cerius(2) programs. The four amorphous polymers used in our calculation were polyethylene (PE), poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS), ply(methyl methacrylate-co-hydroxyethyl - methacrylate) (P(MMA-co-HEMA)), and ethyl and benzyl esters of hyaluronic acid (HA-E, HA-B). The calculated diffusion coefficients (D-c) were compared with the experimentally obtained values (D-e) found in the literature. The ratio of D-c/D-e varied from 0.04 to 24 000. In general, the close values of D-c to D-e were obtained when the system dealt with hydrophobic molecules diffusing through hydrophobic polymers. The D-c/D-e ratio became either very high or very low when the experimental system included hydrophilic diffusants and/or a hydrophilic polymer. The simulation time and the size of molecular models also played key roles in determining the consistency of calculations and the correlation with experimental values. Our study suggests that the current computer simulation of molecular diffusion may be useful in obtaining relative values rather than absolute diffusion coefficient values. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.